Author: Moe_Lane

Jim Treacher has the Jean Schmidt voicemail.

The call can be heard here (the language is NOT SAFE FOR WORK, although people getting tired of that one annoying loudmouth babbling about how he’s about to get murdered in his sleep by senior citizens upset about their health care might think differently); via Instapundit [Oops! Sorry, Glenn].

Moe Lane

PS: I’d just like to note for the record that I had forgotten about Jean Schmidt’s hit-and-run* until reminded; and that Rep. Schmidt has been a favorite target of the netroots since 2004 (as a woman who was pro-victory in Iraq, this is not really unexpected).  Apparently, at least one person out there remembers both; I suggest that Rep. Cleaver start earnestly praying that there aren’t more who only heard what he said, and not what he actually was seen to do.  Because what he did was recorded, by people who would be happy to release it as evidence.

So let’s all hope that doesn’t become an issue, hey?  Yes, even the DNC/DCCC: I don’t think that they want to get dragged into this any further than they have to, February fundraising deficit or no.

Moe Lane

*I understand that they never found the guy who did that, either.  Which is… interesting, no?

Crossposted to RedState.

#rsrh Note to self: don’t annoy Tom Bevan.

This pretty much cuts to the roots of the Matter of Frum. It also impressed the heck out of a few people who work with snark on a regular basis.

Moe Lane

PS: If you’re just getting into politics, RealClearPolitics should be one of your go-to places.  They do authorized reprints of some of the most important daily articles (from both sides of the spectrum), collect polls from the major pollsters, and have a couple of blogs that I should link to more often.  Well worth perusing, whether Left or Right.

VRWC: Calling in window rock strikes on 30-story buildings!

Ever get the feeling that the Left secretly thinks that we’re all gods in disguise over here?

The Seattle Times (bolding mine):

Protesters have been demonstrating at Driehaus’ Ohio home, said Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the anti-abortion Democrat who joined Stupak in voting for the health bill. A rock was thrown through the window of Driehaus’ Cincinnati office Sunday, and a death threat was phoned in to his Washington office a day later, Mulvey said.

Instapundit:

Justin Binik-Thomas emails from Cincinnati that Rep. Driehaus’ office “is on the 30th floor of a skyscraper downtown.”

Seriously.  It is:

The only way you’re going to get a rock up that high is via Federal Express. On the other hand, maybe they’re worried about their profits taking a, ahem, header from this health care monstrosity. Everybody else is, after all.

Moe Lane

[UPDATE]: As can be seen in comments here, they are correcting this aspect of their story (a print correction is likewise promised).  I nag print media enough times when they sanitize an oopsie that I should also note when they own up to something.

Crossposted to RedState.

Politico Fails to Fact-check Carnahan’s Coffin Con. [UPDATED.]

[UPDATE: via Glenn Reynolds I see that Politico has updated the story, and that it was even worse before I noticed it.  I’m making corrections.]

Let us start by watching what happened SUNDAY. This is via Gateway Pundit – who, by the way, was there and who was a spokesman:

Got it? Low-key prayer vigil, coffin brought in for staged funeral of Constitution [future victims of abortion.  See, this is how you do it, Politico – ML], old people crying, coffin then removed. Now let’s see how Politico referenced it:

A coffin was placed on a Missouri Democrat’s lawn, another in a string of incidents against lawmakers after their vote Sunday on a health care overhaul.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) had a coffin placed “near his home,” a spokesman said Wednesday evening.

The coffin was from a prayer vigil.

…and then they went on to equate this with (alleged) incidents or threats of physical violence. Without bothering to check, of course.

Guys? Unquestionably and uncritically reprinting Democratic party press releases like this is not going to be a viable business model, come January 2011. Russ Carnahan and his people can’t help themselves – in more ways than one – but you over at the Politico can.

Moe Lane

PS: I’ll feel obligated to disavow acts of political violence when credible evidence appears that an organization that I belong to organized, initiated, or willfully incited one. Until then, I recommend that people wanting me to do that just save their screeds to their hard drive, preferably in a subfolder of the folder that they have for all those drawings of Sarah Palin being beaten.

Crossposted to RedState.

Buy Kevin Jackson’s book.

Mind you, I haven’t actually read The BIG Black Lie: How I Learned The Truth About The Democrat Party*: but as Smitty of The Other McCain (who did read it) notes, this was a bravura performance.


‘The BIG Black Lie’ Author Debates MSNBC’s Shuster on Tea Pa
Uploaded by burghnews. – News videos from around the world.

One must reward bravura performances.

Moe Lane

PS: Looking for Democratic own-goals on campaign offices, David Shuster? Here you go…

*I don’t like to buy partisan political books, and nobody sends me copies for free.

Crossposted to RedState.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds does some more of the research that Shuster apparently can’t.

The WaPo discovers that there are Alabama Democrats.

Stop laughing: these people don’t get out much.

(Via the Corner) I am not really going to get into the meat of this WaPo article about Alabama candidate for Governor Artur Davis.  If the man is going to run on the admittedly sensible notion that being for health care rationing is political suicide in Alabama, then presumably Rep. Davis was already aware that he’d be more or less called a race traitor for doing so*.  My sympathies are, as they say, muted.

But I wanted to highlight this one throwaway line, because it reveals a certain problem for the Washington Post.

Davis has played down the impact of race in his run but acknowledged that being a Democrat is a challenge in Alabama.

Um.  No, it’s not.  It’s actually fairly easy to be a Democrat in Alabama: Democrats have powerful if not super-majorities in both houses of their state legislature, the current Lt. Governor of Alabama is a Democrat, and up to the point where Parker Griffith flipped they had a 4-3 GOP-Dem ratio in the House.  The reason why that ratio could be 6-1 after the next election is because being a liberal is a challenge in Alabama – which, by the way, accurately describes Artur Davis, Washington Post or no.

This may seem a minor problem, but it’s actually one of the reasons why the newspaper business is in such horrific shape these days: a basic lack of knowledge outside of a very narrow comfort zone.  An editor who happened to know these details about Alabama, or who had thought to look them up (like I did, for some of this), could have easily flipped this story back to the reporter for a quick rewrite.  But the editor was as ignorant of Alabamn politics as the reporter was.  So why are they writing stories on the topic?

Bless their hearts.

Moe Lane

*Artur Davis happens to be African-American.

Crossposted to RedState.

This is the ‘Joe Biden opens his mouth’ to beat.

It’s going to be a tough one to beat, too.

Early Wednesday night, roughly sixty Democratic donors paid $2,500/plate (or about $150,000) for the privilege of having Vice President Joe Biden show up and tell them – on the day after their party had just (barely) passed the health care legislation that will supposedly save them at the polls – that their money is going to end up going to unsuccessfully defend doomed incumbents in the November elections.

Think I’m not being fair?

Barack generated such an overwhelming turnout and enthusiasm (in 2008), that we had the biggest turnout in history. It was gigantic. And a lot of really good Democrats got washed up on shore and all of a sudden were Congressmen, in districts that Democrats have no business having Congressmen.

I’m not here to tell you we’re gaining seats.

Mercifully for the above Congressmen, he didn’t name names: that particular parlor trick is reserved for the $5,000/plate fundraisers.

Moe Lane

PS: Normally, when Joe Biden is present I don’t have to guess the answer to “Who is the [most clueless] person in the room?” – but darned if it isn’t a head-scratcher this time.

Crosspsoted to RedState.